


Brothers

by black_cosmos



Series: Fate/GO High School AU [2]
Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: High School AU, M/M, mandatory OzyGil cameo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-05
Updated: 2018-01-05
Packaged: 2019-02-28 19:39:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13278477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/black_cosmos/pseuds/black_cosmos
Summary: The Mahabharata brother's perspective of Troublemaker.





	Brothers

**Author's Note:**

> Congratulations on your North American debut, Arjuna and Karna!!

Mornings in the Mahabharata household probably isn’t like any mornings in any other household.

Arjuna wakes up at five in the morning. It gives him time to get dressed, and then do his run and exercise. That usually means a few laps around the neighbourhood and then calisthenics. He comes back about an hour later, enough time to shower and then iron his uniform before putting it on. He makes sure to pack everything he needs for school and club, and then head downstairs for breakfast.

He greets his mother, and sits at the table to eat pretending the young man that eventually sits beside him don’t exists at all. He doesn’t even spare him a glance.

By great contrast, his half brother, Karna, always greets him in the morning. He always looks at what he has prepared for school—and usually he can tell what Arjuna’s day is going to be like. If he carries an extra bag, he has Archery after school. If he carries his portfolio then he has a meeting with Student Council either over lunch or after school.

He wakes up around the same time, but he listens for his brother to leave the house first before he goes out to do some road work. He takes a completely different route, of course, and when he comes back, the running shoes tells him that the shower is already going. That gives him time to iron his uniform, prepare his things. Timed right, he hops into the shower right after and gets dressed.

They sit in silence as they eat breakfast, unless their mother asks them questions. Karna lets Arjuna head out first, kissing the cheek of their mother as he leaves. He follows shortly afterwards, usually smiling softly at their mother who glances at him worriedly—

—there’s no point in worrying.

There has never been a time where the brothers really got along after a certain age. When they’re younger, they got along well. Perhaps…. it’s because of the circumstances of their births. The older they become, the more it just seems muddled. They are born the same year from different fathers. Karna’s father left their mother. Shortly after she’s given birth to Karna, she’s already with Arjuna’s father. They are eleven months apart, born in the same year. People question it all the time. They both know the story, but the point is, Karna can’t remember what changed. It’s not like he’s ever done anything to upset Arjuna, that he knows of. It just sort of happened in middle school. Everything changed and suddenly Arjuna hates Karna.

Karna honestly cannot tell you why. He isn’t the brother that started the fire nor does he fan it. Granted, doing nothing but letting it burn is probably just as bad, but he doesn’t particularly like being hated. It hurts to be treated like you don’t exists by your own flesh and blood, but to Karna, he doesn’t want to hurt their mother either. The amount of times he’s tried to talk to Arjuna is almost ridiculous. It always falls on deaf ears. All their mother wants is for them to get along. He can’t give her that, but he can at least give her something akin to peace. So he takes it. He takes what he can and just tries to make the best of it.

He stays out of Arjuna’s way, and the latter does the same.

They have mornings down to a routine. There’s only one year left of high school, and Karna can bet Arjuna is going to move as far away from him as he can. He doesn’t actually know of his plans after graduation, it hasn’t occurred to him to ask mother.

Mother who has to suddenly take a flight to Okinawa because their grandmother suddenly gets ill. She calls the two of them down well after they’ve retired to their rooms to tell them. She apologizes and promises that she’ll be back in a week.

She’s also probably telling them, in her own way, not to burn down the house or kill each other in that one week they’re alone together.

Their morning routines… changes a little. Karna wakes up earlier, making breakfast and preparing lunch and dinner for himself—in the first few days, he makes some for Arjuna, too, but he ignores them and they only went to waste. Arjuna prepares his food at night. They no longer sit in the table for breakfast, somehow they just miss each other completely. That’s fine with him. They aren’t burning the house or killing each other, as mother asked.

There’s an event going on in school. As if it isn’t enough that his morning routines are changed, classes are also at a pause. Karna doesn’t really care. He’s just trying to get caught up with his literature reading so that when classes resume next week, he doesn’t have to worry about it. It is a little loud, but he isn’t the only one who opted out of the festivities. There’s a few more people in his class who aren’t athletically inclined, choosing instead to stay in their uniform and reading quietly at their desks.

There’s a commotion in the front of the classroom, but it feels like there’s always a commotion. Why are people getting so worked up about this? It’s just the Intramural Games. It happens every year.

For some strange reason, he sees someone in his peripheral approaching. Ozymandias. Surprisingly, the top of their class in test scores and p.e. despite not being part of any clubs himself. The latter is even more impressive because Karna himself is an all around athlete for the Track Team and Ozymandias has him beat. Though, Ozy is a troublemaker, and Karna honestly doesn’t want to even entertain whatever it is that he’s standing in front of him for. He already has a bad feeling about this. He’s never spoken to him before outside needing to when they’re in the same team for gym class or something to do with class projects. He knows him enough to know his personality and what he’s like.

Yet, being the respectful person that he is, he looks up at him. Karna places a bookmark on his page and sets the book on his desk. “Yes?"

Perhaps he should’ve said: no.

"You need to participate. I don't know of anyone else that can compete and win, I can't win against both Gil and your brother. I can't be in two places at once.” Right to the point, and sounding like he’s ordering him to do it. Of course he is. He probably thought that he’s hit a chord when he mentions his brother.

Ozymandias doesn’t know that’s all the more reason for Karna not to join in. He shakes his head because this man… knows nothing at all yet he’s going around like he owns the place.

“I don't want to provoke Arjuna further, he's already too competitive on his own.” Which is true. His drive to do better is because he always wants to prove that he’s the best. He’s been champion in Archery since the junior division—he’s always been part of student council. He excels in everything that he does because of that drive. To touch that with his hands… Karna can’t even imagine how he’d react.

It’s just Intramural Games. He’s not going to wage war with the last person he wants to pick a fight with.

There’s a scoff followed by more pushiness. "What? No. That's such a stupid excuse, don't you care about our team?”

Frankly speaking, no? It has nothing to do with him. It doesn’t affect him. Ozymandias has already made it blatant what his intentions are behind asking Karna to join. It’s not for the team. It’s not for Karna’s sake. “You… don't really care about this team either. You just don't want to lose to G—”

“Karna.”He calls him. Dramatically, he crouches and this surprises him. Ozy moving down in any way, let alone to meet his eyes? This is surprising, in deed. He must be desperate. “The winning team gets free credits for PhysEd class, and if that's not enough incentive, you also have to remember that you're the only one who could stop Arjuna from bullying everyone he goes up against.”

Karna doesn’t like this. He doesn’t like this at all. Ozymandias is not going to let this go. He will bug him to his grave. He’ll probably also blame him if the team loses even if it has nothing to do with him. Why must he do it? Well, he supposes… if he doesn’t have to go against Arjuna, it’ll be okay. He just have to win in his own competitions and add to the medal count. He breathes out his answer, “Fine.”

"Good." Ozymandias happily exclaims. Karna is almost bracing himself from Ozy standing up and patting him hard on the back. Luckily, it doesn’t happen. He’s in great spirits as he calls, walking to the front of the class, ”Nitocris, sign me up to all the events Gil is on, and Karna at everyone Arjuna is on. We'll crush them and win this."

… wait. What?

He stands up, but Ozymandias is already making his way out of the classroom with laser focus you’d think the world is at stake, not pride. Karna looks towards the one who Ozymandias has said to sign him up for Arjuna’s events. Nitocris is looking worriedly at the door when he approaches her. He would ask what’s the matter, but they all know what it is: that drive is going to end up backfiring on everyone.

“Nitocris.” Karna calls, and she looks at him, seemingly surprised.

Then her expression softens. “I’m… really sorry that Ozy has dragged you into this. Really—you don’t have to participate. I feel partially responsible since I did tell him 3-A is on the lead and why.”

He shakes his head. “That’s not the problem. Why is it that he wants me to compete against Arjuna…? Would it not make sense to just try to rack up as much first place wins instead?”

Nitocris tilts her head a little, as if in confusion. “I… think it’s because he never wants an equalizer? If there are always at least four events going at once, and all four of you were dispersed into each one and assuming you all get first place in all, then it’d just end up a tie…? I honestly don’t know.”

She pauses and then looks back at Karna. “Is there a reason why you don’t want to compete against Arjuna? Nothing wrong with a little friendly sibling rivalry, no?”

His facial expression might’ve been too glaringly obvious of what he thinks about that because he hasn’t even responded when Nitocris is speaking again. “Yeah. I kind of thought that you two don’t get along since I never even seen you two interact with each other around campus. But I kind of thought that maybe a little competition might be the push you need to break whatever wall it is that’s between you two. N-n-not that I know anything! I don’t mean to meddle! I just—”

Karna is blinking at her, disbelievingly. Are… the two of them really that obvious? Is the rift between them something that people can so blatantly see that they want to help them? He appreciates the gesture. He hasn’t tried talking to Arjuna in… years now, he thinks. He never has an excuse or a reason to. The two of them are graduating this year and his own brother is going to probably move out and he has no idea where, or what he’s going to be doing. That is rather sad, if put that way. Is Nitocris right, then? Would competition better relay Karna’s desire of just…

He just wants to talk to Arjuna again. Just once. They don’t even have to be friends or amicable. He just wants some closure. It’ll hurt to be tossed aside, but at least this way, he’ll know instead of just reading the tell-tale signs.

“I’ll do it.” He says, and Nitocris looks like she’s about to argue, to tell him that she doesn’t mean to push him. But he shakes his head and smiles at her with a grateful nod of his head. “Thank you.”

With a quick trip to his locker and change rooms, he dons his gym clothes and heads for the first event. It’s as if he’s mocked fate somehow because lo and behold, he’s heading to the archery dojo. All the while heading there, the mantra of ‘Arjuna is not going to like this’ is repeating in his head over and over again. The first event he’s participating on is Archery. Arjuna’s domain. That is his thing. That has always been his thing. Why must it be like this? Why can’t it be anything else but this? He’s hoping for something less in his face like… he doesn’t know, arm wrestling? Wait. That seems intimate.

The event is not happening in the dojo but behind it. It’s not like they have the proper training or equipment to just head inside. It’s a lesser version of competitive Archery. They have makeshift, but well crafted bows. It seems like the goal is the first one to… break open the watermelon targets with the arrows from across the line wins. He doesn’t see Arjuna yet, and he’s hoping to get a spot where he won’t see him so—

—as Karna turns to pick up one of the crafted bows, Arjuna is right there. He drops the armful of more crafted bows that he seems to be helping carry at seeing him.

It’s been… well over years since Arjuna has spoken a word to him. Years. Face to face right now, that shock on his face is mixed with emotions Karna can’t even name. All he knows is that he’s literally glaring daggers at him, and in the most venomous way he could say it, Arjuna speaks to him for the first time. “What?”

It’s rather anti-climactic, really. Karna is about to tell him, but the event coordinator, the first year English teacher, is ushering them along to take their bows and take their places. Karna does, passing Arjuna to avoid the confrontation. Not like this. This is not how he wanted to have a conversation with him. When the whistle tells them to start the supposedly fun competition, he can tell that Arjuna is beyond mad.

He shoots his arrows so fast that literally everyone else competing turns to look at him fire like there’s no tomorrow. He picks up an arrow, draws his bow, and lets go. With terrifying accuracy, his shots land across the poor watermelon horizontally in a perfect line. Though everyone is amazed with the lethality of Arjuna’s shots, Karna can’t help but think that the way he shoots is rather… beautiful. Sure, there is anger and spite in every draw and release but everything is fluid and graceful. His form is perfect, the way he handles the arrows in his fingers is delicate. The bow is steady, his shooting is in tandem with his breathing. The only crack in his facade is that after he attacks the watermelon mercilessly, his grip on his bow shakes in anger.

Karna looks up and starts to fire, because he knows. He can feel it as he shoots: Arjuna glaring at him. Everyone else who’s in a trance from watching Arjuna follows suit. Unsurprisingly, Arjuna takes first place. Karna has to settle for second, which is up to a bad start considering Ozymandias is determined to win it all.

The day doesn’t get any easier than that. With two more events that he’s up against Arjuna in, it feels like the animosity is just building. Two events in a row, perhaps to Arjuna, is just bad luck. But three…? Karna can’t even imagine.

Especially since Karna took first place in the last two events of the day. No, he couldn’t possibly throw the win because then Arjuna is just going to get angrier that he’s giving him the win without a fight. That’ll make things worse. Truly, either way, Karna loses. He’s starting to think that this is not a good idea. That’s fine. Tomorrow, he’ll tell Nitocris that he can’t keep doing this. He’ll compete, but he will not do it against Arjuna. He thinks that it should be plausible. After all, if Ozymandias wants to win, then he should be the one making sure he wins against Gilgamesh since Arjuna and him can just play equalizer.

Right?

Karna is still trying to convince himself of this as he lays on his bed, watching his ceiling. What an awful feeling. Here he thought that Nitocris might be up to something, that he might finally get what he wants. But he thinks what he’s done is just toss that possibility out the window. There’s no way now. He can hear it when Arjuna gets home: the sound of the door, the keys dropping into the right bowl. He hears him go up the stairs and Karna counts five steps and waits for the opening of Arjuna’s door…

… huh.

Arjuna takes more than five hurried steps and by the time it sinks into Karna that he isn’t hallucinating, his door is already practically flinging open.

“What the hell is your problem?!” Arjuna exclaims, and Karna sits up. He considers standing, but when he sees Arjuna, he decides against it. He has never seen him this angry. He has never seen him just missing the steam coming out of his nose as he breathes to complete the picture. “If you’re trying to pick a fight, just say so, we’ll go right now. I don’t need your petty reasons or whatever you’re trying to pull.”

He’s speaking to him. Arjuna is actually speaking to him. Alright, they are threats and each word feels like he knows what that watermelon from the first event felt when Arjuna destroyed it with a rain of arrows. Yet still, this is more interaction that they have had since middle school.

Karna shakes his head, and he explains, “Ozymandias is competing against Gilgamesh in the Intramurals. Gilgamesh has you in his class so the both of you wracking up medal counts is—“

“Spare me your excuses.” Arjuna cuts him off.

Karna…. doesn’t really know his brother anymore. He feels like he’s been a stranger since middle school, but there’s something strange about this. Yes, Arjuna is angry at him, but he’s… shaking? He’s looking at him and he’s shaking. Karna stands up, and he could’ve sworn he sees Arjuna wanting to take a step back. There’s a twitch in his leg, but he holds his ground.

“Someone suggested to me that perhaps competing against you might give me a chance to converse with you.” He explains, never looking away from Arjuna. By some miracle, Arjuna isn’t moving from where Karna is approaching him. “And we are speaking now—it’s been years. We’ve lived in the same house, gone to the same school, and are even in the same class last year, and yet…”

Karna reaches for the trembling fists Arjuna has on his sides. Well, he reaches for one of them, at least, and maybe he shouldn’t have. That seems to have snapped Arjuna out of whatever momentarily pause he’s in. He slaps Karna’s hand away, and hisses at him, “Leave me alone, Karna.”

Just like that he loses his last chance to ever speak to Arjuna. He’s gone. He storms back to his room, shutting the door so hard that he thinks he hears things from Arjuna’s room falling onto the floor.

Well… they have made progress today. Maybe Arjuna just needs some time to cool down. Karna figures he might try again later.

Later doesn’t come that night, or the morning after. Arjuna doesn’t leave his room and he seems to have left the house earlier than normal. Karna doesn’t get the chance to catch him at home, but he knows for a fact that he gets to compete with him today, too. It means that today is his last chance. If he doesn’t speak to him now, he’s going to have to encroach Arjuna’s space on his own accord. Somehow that seems similar to willingly stepping on a landmine.

No one can really blame Karna, though. The two of them only has a few more months together in the same house. He still has no doubt that Arjuna will take the next train out of town as soon as he can, and all he wants is for this relationship to be a little better than it is now. He doesn’t want to put distance in this already complicated relationship, he just… really wants to talk to him. Funny, since he wouldn’t really know what to say to Arjuna, but he wants to.

In the first event, it’s impossible to try to speak with him. It’s a relay and Karma has been tasked to run first and he thinks Arjuna is the last sprinter. The next one is also impossible since—who in the world thought that climbing a vertical rope is a fun game to play? Karna’s arms were so tired by the end of the five rounds. Luck is not on his side, it seems, with events wherein he can speak with Arjuna. After the relay and rope climbing, they’re competing in a three-legged race.

Karna thinks that he finally gets a chance but then they both find themselves competing in amateur kendo. This also seems like a bad idea, but Karna thinks that they have thought of every ridiculous games to play for Intramurals. Instead of using actual expensive gears, they have makeshift armour patched together from old baseball catcher’s gear. The swords are paper-mâché, so more often than not, the preliminary rounds are consists of laughter over the swords bending in half or outright breaking.

Unsurprisingly, he finds himself face to face with Arjuna by the third round. It’s not the finals yet, but they always seem to find a way to have to go against each other, one way or another.

There is nothing but contempt in the way Arjuna is looking at him. The moment they stand opposite of teach other, he doubts that he can hear the Japanese Lit teacher reminding them of the rules. Karna doubts Arjuna cares. This is the first time they are competing against each other and it’s all about their strengths. So the moment the whistle blows, Arjuna comes up to him like he’s been practicing kendo all his life.

There is beauty in the strength and speed of his lunge, that Karna is barely able to block it. Surprisingly, their paper-mâché swords are holding up better than some of the others. It silences the cheering when they start to go at it. He pushes Arjuna back, then trying to retaliate, to make him take a few steps back. Arjuna would have none of it. He meets every one of his strokes, blow by blow. He’s unrelenting.

The rage on his eyes does soften, Karna thinks. At some point of this standoff wherein neither of them are finding success in pushing each other back, Arjuna’s eyes start to seem like he’s enjoying this. He’s enjoying the competition. He’s enjoying that someone can stand up to him, can fight him. Karna knows just how good Arjuna is. He knows that he might be a little desensitized about winning in Archery all the time, in having his way in student council… in fact, he knows that this might be part of the reason why he’ll fly the moment the chance is given to him.

Arjuna is always meant for something greater. Karna doesn’t know how a genius and a prodigy can keep going when the can’t see the challenge in what they’re doing anymore. Honestly, that’s what worries him about Arjuna. That’s why he knows that even if he’s keeping his distance, he can’t leave him alone.

That all said and done—

—things get messy. So, so, messy, in fact that they had to be pried away from each other. Arjuna’s paper sword breaks, but he takes that as motivation to try to steal Karna’s from him. Then there was grabbing, and then there was pushing each other to the ground. Then there was a scuffle.

The events actually escalates faster than Karna could keep up, but he’s suddenly on top of Arjuna, trying to pin him down, when the teacher hooks his arms under his and drags him away. Some of the students are holding Arjuna back. The two of them gets sent to the infirmary with a warning that if they fight again on their way there, they’re going to be in more trouble than they already are in.

Zhuge Liang-sensei is the school doctor and director of the infirmary. He happens to be invigilating an event near them when the fight broke out and he personally walks them to the infirmary to get ice on the redness and swelling before they bruise. He is unhappy with them, too. All the way to the infirmary, they’re being lectured about their competitive nature that crossed the line. He says that they’d be sent to the office if the office didn’t already know that their parents are both out of town. He says that either way, they’re just in trouble and they ought to be ashamed of themselves.

When they get to the infirmary, one of the two beds are taken, the curtains drawn. Zhuge Liang-sensei makes them sit on the bed, back to back. He hands the both of them cold compresses, and then tells them to behave before he marches himself to the principal’s office.

There is silence before Karna pulls his ice pack down from where he’s pressing it against his own cheek. He looks at it, and then at Arjuna’s back before he murmurs, “I’m sorry."

It isn’t like he’s expecting Arjuna to say something, but maybe he hopes he’d at least tell him to shut up. This is alright, too. He can just speak.

“You’re right… I should’ve just left it alone. I didn’t mean for it to get messy. The last thing I want is to get you in trouble and have something as ridiculous as this go down in our records.” He pauses before putting the cold compress back. “I’ll take the fall for it.”

“Tsk.” He hears the click of Arjuna’s tongue, annoyed, and then he feels him grab him. Arjuna has turned his body to the side and grabbed the front of Karna’s uniform so he could look at him. He’s seething when he speaks, “Why are you like this? After everything that I’ve done, why are you still like this?”

Like this? Could… Arjuna be talking about kindness? Karna’s expression softens and he touches his hand. “Because I’m your brother.”

“If you really respect that then why can’t you just leave me alone?” The exasperation in his voice is clear, but it’s also clear that they’re talking. Arjuna’s not just blowing him off or anything.

“Because I know that you don’t really want to be left alone.” Karna begins, looking at him. He meets his eyes, those unrelenting eyes. “Nobody really does—but for you specifically, Arjuna. You excel in everything that you do with little to no effort, and overtime that can be desensitizing. I’m not so arrogant to say that I can keep up in everything that you do, but I don’t want you to be lonely at the top, which is more often the case.”

Arjuna looks at him. He looks partially conflicted, but mostly still staring him down with eyes of steel. Karna squeezes at the hand still bunching his shirt by the collar. “Why do you hate me so? What happened…?”

“I don’t hate you—” Arjuna is cut off with how blatantly Karna raises his brow at the statement. He clicks his tongue again, in irritation, before Karna feels him tugging on him. They’re close that he almost thinks that Arjuna is about to thunk their foreheads together painfully him, but there are soft lips against his and eyes staring at his surprised ones.

Is he… kissing him…?

Why is he kissing him?

How does this make any sense—unless… unless the reason why Arjuna is doing this is because he wants him to hate him? That could be it. That seems like something he’d do but more than that, Karna thinks that he understands it a little. Maybe it’s the opposite. Arjuna doesn’t hate him, he has feelings for him that isn’t right for brothers. He has feelings for him and as he tries to reject it, it’s distorted into this hatred. The hatred that makes him want to distance himself from Karna. Because distancing himself from Karna is the only thing that makes sense now because what else is he supposed to do?

It must’ve been hard for Arjuna. He doesn’t have anyone he could confide with. In the while that Karna thinks he’s been hurting him on purpose, Arjuna is hurting more. What a complicated little brother he has.

Karna’s expression softens and he lets his eyes slip close. He relaxes to the kiss which makes Arjuna panic a little, he thinks. He feels him stiffening, but he maneuvers a bit so he could push him to the bed and just kiss him like this. He breaks the kiss and opens his eyes. Arjuna’s skin tone doesn’t make blushing obvious, but he knows he’d be blushing right now. The expression in his face says so—an expression that isn’t of contempt.

“I can’t read your mind, Arjuna. I wish you had believed in me more and know that you could’ve confided in me.” He says, softly, reassuringly. “I don’t know if I… feel the same way, but I want to figure this out together instead of you pushing me away. It’s not fair for either of us.”

Arjuna looks at him, like he’s contemplating, and then he takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “You’re not… repulsed by this…?”

Karna kisses him as a reply. He just wants him to know. He wants him to know that he wants to help, he wants to be by his side again. He doesn’t know yet whether this is right or not, but he means what he has said. He wants to figure this out together. He breaks the kiss after letting it linger, still meeting his eyes. Arjuna opens his mouth to speak, but another voice echoes instead.

“You two get a different room, we were here first.”

That makes the two of them scramble to sit back up, putting as much distance between each other as they can. Karna’s own heart is beating a mile a minute. What—did someone… see them?

“Gil… Gilgamesh? W-what are you doing here?” Arjuna calls, and Karna can also tell with his tone that he’s a little spooked by the sudden voice speaking to them. Karna thought that they’re alone. He should’ve checked. Well, he supposes this voice is better than the principal or Zhuge Liang-sensei walking in on them. In some way, he’s thankful.

“We were having se—mfph!” Gilgamesh’s voice now sounds like it’s being muffled by a hand.

“Nothing. He was resting from over exerting himself, carry on.” It’s Karna’s turn to recognize that voice, but he really shouldn’t be surprised to hear Ozymandias. Wherever Gilgamesh is, he never seems to be so far away. Okay, and now the bed is squeaking and they’re making noises that Karna doesn’t even want to try to identify.

He shakes his head to himself, but he holds the cold compress back to his cheek, reaching his hand back to touch Arjuna’s fingers with his without looking at him. Arjuna doesn’t pull away, in fact, he lets him rest their hands together. Karna is reassured with that, that for the first time in a long time, they’re going to be okay.


End file.
